Planning to head out this Halloween? New driving data reveals the riskiest hours on the road, with spikes in distracted driving and hard-braking incidents as trick-or-treaters, parties, and heavy traffic fill neighborhoods.
Learn when drivers need to be most alert and what safety experts recommend to help keep children, families, and pedestrians safe on one of the busiest nights of the year.
Halloween is a night that can be fun and also spooky,
but there is also one scary trend that's on the rise.
Traffic anchor Catherine Parada joining us now,
and Catherine, it has to do with safety on the roadways.
We're talking about distracted driving.
New data found it increases right as kids
are heading out in search of candy.
But there are some things you can do to reduce the temptation
to pick up your phone and keep everyone safer.
It's a busy time and children are unpredictable.
The perfect costume, their favorite candy,
it's the magic potion for a fun Halloween night.
But Mark Shieldrop from AAA Northeast says there's
also one combination that's
downright scary, phone use while driving.
On Halloween, I mean I can understand the temptation to snap some photos or
check the directions while you're driving,
but it's one of those things that we need to
plan ahead and make sure that we don't use
our phone while we're driving.
We looked at...
Over 48 million trips from the past five Halloweens,
and we found that these risky behaviors start around
when trick-or-treating begin,
and then they increase throughout the night.
Matt Fiorentino is with Cambridge Mobile Telematics.
Their data found distracted driving
on Halloween jumped by 6% between 5 and 8 p.m.
Hard braking spiked by 7.5% in that first hour.
When you see an increase in heartbreaking,
that's actually when people are looking up from their phones
or some other distraction.
And realizing that they're about
to hit something and need to slam on the brakes.
The danger doesn't end once the kids are back home.
The adults are starting to go out.
They're going to their costume parties.
They're going out and doing other things.
And when that happens, they're texting more. They're sharing photos.
They're looking for addresses in their phone.
And so phone use increased.
By almost 9% between 8 p.m. and midnight,
hard braking surged by more than 14% during those late-night hours.
So, if you plan to be driving a car
and not a broomstick this Halloween,
Fiorentino has three simple tips.
One, put your phone in do not disturb mode.
Then, put it away.
And finally, slow down, especially in neighborhoods.
Which leads us back to those tiny ghosts
and witches creeping through the streets.
Think about your child and yourself
and your ability to see and be seen.
And think about where you're actually going to be walking around.
Shieldrop says it's always a good idea
to carry a flashlight while trick-or-treating,
something that's safer and more fun when done in a group.
You've got more eyes on the road and you've
got people looking in all directions together.
Allowing the kids to remain hocus-pocus and candy-focused.
And AAA Northeast said another thing parents can do is choose
a neighborhood for trick-or-treating with good lighting
and sidewalks and away from any fast-moving traffic.
As for any adults who plan to be out celebrating Halloween,
make sure you have that sober ride lined up well ahead of time.
